Tuesday, August 30, 2016

It seems like most of the big names in
power metal have been set in stone for years. With very few exceptions, the
last number of years have not risen many new bands to a level that can compete
with giants like Helloween, Stratovarius, or Avantasia. And while Sabaton
certainly cannot be considered new, their debut is much more recent than many
of these other acts. For this reason, it is astounding just how quickly their
popularity has skyrocketed over the last few years. It seems like they really
took off around “Carlous Rex”, and each subsequent album promises to be bigger
than the last.

This brings us to “The Last Stand”, which
has been hyped beyond belief by Nuclear Blast. To their credit, this is a great
album. The label made some major mistakes in terms of promoting it (more on
that later), but this is Sabaton’s strongest album since the brilliant “Coat of
Arms”. Let’s get one thing out of the way quickly: this band gets more and more
derivative on each record. Sometimes you feel like a melody before, but this
record has a few too many of those moments to be comfortable. This is mostly
because Sabaton’s formula never changes. The only real change is that the
guitars seem to fade further into the background on each release, while the
keyboards get louder. Both of the first two songs, “Sparta” and “Last Dying
Breath”, emphasize this change in focus with their monstrous choruses (the
latter of which might be a top 5 Sabaton song ever).

The choruses tend to be the focus of this
album. A lot of songs start out exciting and mellow out into a verse driven by Pär
Sundström’s bass playing, only to build up into an immense chorus. Every song
is so catchy it hurts, which works both in the band’s favour and to their
detriment. Tracks like “Shiroyama” and “Rorke’s Drift” push the boundaries of
memorability. If you don’t want to sing along to these songs, something is
seriously wrong! Where this uncanny ability to writing catchy melodies hurts
Sabaton is when the songs just aren’t that good. “Blood of Bannockburn” is the
only truly weak song on the record (unsurprisingly, it was promoted as one of
the singles). This track has a Celtic melody driven by bagpipes. Ironically, it
actually has a killer riff underneath, but it is a little too drowned out.
Fortunately, this song is a grower, and gets better with each listen, but it
still stands out as a weaker moment. Another one of the singles, “The Lost
Battalion”, is yet another grower, but it works much better in the context of the
album, where it is preceded by a short narration from Jon Schaffer. This song
is also notable for the fact that the drums were replaced by gun samples,
making for an even more epic sound!

Those two tracks are definitely
head-scratchers the first time around, but the remaining songs on the album are
all fantastic. Relative to “Heroes”, this album features a lot more upbeat and
energetic songs. As great as Sabaton’s previous record was, it did feel a bit
lifeless at times, but there aren’t any songs on this album that feel sluggish,
dull, or uninspired. Even if they aren’t unleashing their best melodies,
Sabaton is providing something enjoyable.

One factor working in the band’s favour is
the improvement in the guitar playing. On their second record together, Thobbe
Englund and Chris Rörland sound a lot more comfortable together. Their
shredding is much wilder and more impressive. Even with their older lineup,
Sabaton was never really a shreddy band, instead opting for simpler, melodic
solos. On “The Last Stand”, however, that has changed. This is a major
improvement because most of their contemporaries have solos that are a lot more
technically challenging, so it helps the band keep up, and because Sabaton’s
music is already fairly simplistic, so this makes for a more diverse and less
predictable experience.

There are few bands that are as true to
their original sound as Sabaton. As uninventive as they have been over the last
few years, it is difficult to deny how proficient they are as songwriters.
Their formula has been perfected into short 3-minute bursts of energy. They are
essentially a pop band in disguise at this point, and while that might not work
for a lot of metal fans, it is easy to see why so many people love this band. If
I want something more challenging, there are any number of bands to listen to,
but as an exercise in fun, catchy music, Sabaton is second to none!

Monday, August 29, 2016

It might be 2016, but the art of the 4-way
split is not dead! Unspeakable Axe Records is keeping things alive with their
second such split in a relatively recent period. This release once again sees 4
death metal bands from a variety of backgrounds coming together to create a
unique offering of crushing brutality.

The first band up is Gatecreeper. If you
worship Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed, and the like, this is going to be the
band for you. This band’s riffs crush posers by being as downtuned and
crunchy as possible. If the HM2 pedal is not in play here, then Gatecreeper has
found an impressive imitator. Though the band does spend quite a bit of time in
plodding mid-paced territory (which is where they are at their heaviest), they
speed things up after a couple of minutes to give your neck a faster workout. Even
as someone who never got that much into Swedish death metal, Gatecreeper hits a
very satisfying spot.

Expectations for this release should be
pretty high after the first song, and the good news is that Homewrecker still
manages to annihilate them. Make no mistake, “Perpetrators of Annihilation” is
far and away the best song on this release. It has everything to offer in terms
of speed, but where it truly sets itself apart from the rest of this split is
near the end when the band launches into a spacier, atmospheric section. These
moments overlap clean guitars with huge, distorted ringing notes. The bass
climbs higher into the mix at this point, creating a dark, disturbed
atmosphere. The end result is terrifying, but incredibly enjoyable. While it
goes on for quite a while (the track does break the 6-minute barrier), it is a
hypnotic trance that is easy to get lost in.

The third slot on this record is an
unfortunate one because nobody is living up to Homewrecker’s song. Outer
Heaven, however, does a decent enough job. The song opens with a riff that, if
tuned slightly higher, would feel pretty close to an old-school Floridian death
metal riff (think: Death; the track is named “Death Worship”, after all). This
song quickly changes into a more predictable Swedish-esque sound. For the most
part, this track is well executed, but the band’s vocalist is far too low in
the mix. Nevertheless, this doesn’t hurt Outer Heaven too much, and “Death
Worship” is a serviceable track for this split.

Scorched closes out the record in a
slightly different direction. “Autopsy Incomplete” opens with the shrill sounds
that one would expect in a horror movie. The vocals eventually come in, with
the band providing only a partial accompaniment, and the result is pure terror
mixed with brutality. Once the band comes in for real, Scorched still manages
to keep that petrifying vibe for quite a while, before exploding into a more
typical death metal song. This song has some fun syncopated rhythms to it, and
is definitely a lot different from the Swedish death sounds of Gatecreeper and
Outer Heaven.

All in all, this 4-way split is another
rousing success for Unspeakable Axe Records. Each of the 4 bands definitely has
something interesting to offer, and while only Homewrecker pushes the limits of
the subgenre, this release is enjoyable from front to back. The EP format
definitely works better than the full-length for this style of split.
Ultimately, if you’re a serious fan of discovering new death metal bands, this
split is an essential purchase!

Thursday, August 25, 2016

It seems that the death metal scene of 2016
is dominated by bands that emphasize strange, dissonant, and occasionally
cavernous music. The legions of groups playing this style draw considerable
influence from their forefathers in Immolation and Incantation (among others),
but still usually do a decent job of carving their own niche and avoiding being
predictable. Voidspawn is no different in this respect. While many of their
peers achieve dissonance via strange or incompatible chord progressions and spacey
atmospherics, Voidspawn takes things in a different direction (though they
definitely use those abstract intervals as well). This band achieves much of
its dissonance by letting notes ring out, despite being completely drenched in
distortion. They’re obviously not the first band to do this, but in the current
scene, they stand out for using this sound fairly consistently, as demonstrated
constantly on the opening song “Sisyphean Ideation”.

Of course, there’s more to Voidspawn than
simply letting notes ring beyond their expected lifespan. The album features
plenty of downtuned, crushing riffs that will obliterate the mind.
Additionally, the vocals are monolithic and provide more than sufficient
brutality, despite being somewhat back in the mix. The production as a whole
occasionally feels distant. The guitars dominate the other instruments (a
welcome change from most records where drums are the domineering force),
meaning that it will never be difficult to discern the riffs being played, but every other instrument is less prominent. Voidspawn
also tends to mix up the tempos fairly often. The general speed of the record
is obviously high, but they aren’t afraid to go into a doomy passage, or even
pull out some longer chords in between more chaotic riffing.

“Pyrrhic” is a relatively short experience,
as it just barely cracks 13 minutes. It might be difficult for a band to build
an identity for themselves in such a short time, but Voidspawn has pulled it
off. This EP has plenty of variety, but still has a distinctive sound, while
staying true to what so many people love about death metal. This release
certainly isn’t a crowning achievement in terms of memorability, but this type
of death metal rarely is. On the whole, Voidspawn will more than satisfy any
cravings you might have for dark dissonant death metal, and the fact that they
can do it in such a short timespan is a testament to how truly talented the
band is!